Wheel chock

ABSTRACT

A wheel chock for engaging opposite sides of a wheel to prevent rolling in either direction is provided by a pair of spaced wedge-like blocks that are secured together in pre-spaced relation by a hoop-like bar of resilient steel that operates to maintain the blocks in position while permitting flexing of the hoop to effect removal of the blocks from opposite sides of a wheel.

[151 3,684,060 [451 Aug. 15,1972

United States Patent Waddle 3,258,088 6/1966 188/32 3,391,760 7/1968Gonser........................188/32 WHEEL CHOCK [72] Inventor:

I Primary Examiner-Duane A. Reger Attorney-bettvin and Gerstman Oct. 12,1970 [21] Appl. No.: 80,010 ABSTRACT I A wheel chock for engagingopposite sides of a wheel to prevent rolling in either direction isprovided by a -'like blocks that are secured together in pre-spacedrelation by a hoop-like bar of resilient steel that operates to maintainthe blocks in position while permitting flexing of the hoop to effectremoval of the blocks from oppositesides of a wheel.

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2,850,117 9/1958 Gersmehl ....................188/32 3 Chins, 3 DrawingFigures WHEEL CHOCK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relatesto a wheel chock, and more particularly, to a chock for use with thewheel of a railway car, or the like, and is used to prevent cars fromrollingin either direction.

Hand brakes frequently are not adequate to hold railway cars at selectedlocations along a track, particularly if the car is parked on anyappreciable decline. It has been known that the compressed air forairoperated brakes frequently bleeds off from a braking system whenrailway carsare parked in a braked condition for any length of time. Itis, of course, well known to use wedge-type wheel blocks to preventrailway cars from rolling in either direction along a track, suchas maybe caused by failure of the brakes to hold the car at a selectedposition along the track.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple andinexpensive, buteasy to handle, wheel chock that is constructed and arranged to engageopposite sides of a wheel of a rail car or the like, to prevent the carfrom rolling in either direction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wheel chock which may bereadily handled .andmanipulated, to either effect insertio'nof theblocks beneath a wheel or to remove the blocks from beneath a wheel withminimum efiort and in an efficient and effective manner.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent asthe following descriptionxproceeds and the features of novelty whichcharacterize this invention will be pointed out with particularity inthe claims annexed to and forming part ofthis specification.

A preferredembodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing.

- BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 illustrates a fragment of arailway car showing a wheel thereof with the wheel chock of thisinvention applied in position with respect to the wheel of the car;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the wheel chock; and

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the wheel chock of FIG. 2 takensubstantially on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing,FIG. 1 illustrates a fragment of a railway car showing a wheel on itstrack and with the chock 12 of this invention applied to the wheel. Thedetails of the wheel chock 12 are most clearly seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The wheel chock 12 includes a pair of generally wedge-shaped blocks 14arranged and spaced in mirronimage relation to each other. These blocks14 are adapted to engage opposite sides of the lowest point of the wheel10, as seen in FIG. 1. Each block 14 has a flat lower side 16 that isadapted to lie against a support surface, such as the top side of arail, and a curved .upper side 18 that serves as a wheel-engagingsurface. The curve of the upper side 18 is to a radius that issubstantially identical to the radius of the wheel that is to bechocked. Typically, the radius of curvature of upper side 18 may be a 20inch radius.

The sides 16 and 18 join the inwardly facing tapered edge 20 of theblock. The opposite edge of block 14 provides an upright side 22 whichintersects at its upper edge with the upper side 18 to define thehighest point that is most distant from the side 16.

Theblocks 14 are arranged with their tapered edges 20 facing each otherand spaced sufficiently close to each other to serve as blocks foropposite sides of the wheel to be chocked. A frame, generally indicatedat 24, is rigidly secured to each of the blocks 14 to provide aunitarychock member. The frame member 24 is of-resilient material andhas a shape that when unstressed, as seen in FIG. 2, operates tomaintain the blocks 14 spaced from each other in .position for anoperative relation with the wheel to be chocked. The frame member 24 isflexible enough to permit further resilient separation of the adjacenttapered edges of the block so as to accommodate ready insertion orremoval of the blocks 14 on opposite sides of a wheel. Morespecifically, the frame member 24 is in the shape of a formed bar ofspring steel that has been tempered so that it will restore itself tothe condition seen in FIG. 2 after it has been stressed so as toseparate the blocks 14. In the preferred form, the bar-like frame member24. is formed of round stock that is shaped to provide two spacedparallel, elongated, securement ears 26 that are weldedadjacent one endthereof to the .upright rear wall 22 of the blocks 14. The ears 226secure to upright side 22 intermediate the edges thereof so as to locateframe member 24 ina plane that is spaced between the plane of theblock's flat sides 16 and a plane through theuppermost portions of theblock. Such a spacial arrangement is best seen in FIG. 3.

The other end of each of the securement cars .26 merges and therebyconnects with the ends of a hooplike segment28. The hoop-like segment 28is generally circular and has an arcuateextent that is in the range ofapproximately 270. This locates the parallel securement ears 26 ataspacing .that is less than the diameter of the hoop segment 28. Thearrangement of the hoop member28 of greater diameter than the spacing ofthe securement ears26 permits of flexing of the hoop 28 so as to spread.the blocks 14 a sufficient distance to clear the wheel that is beingchocked without springing the hoop28- and so that .the inherentresilience of the tempered steel hoop operates as a spring to restorethe chock to the normal position seen in FIG. 2.

This wheel chock is applicable in any situation'where freight cars orlocomotives are parked whether it be in a yard, orxan industrial siding,or a spur or enginehouse. The wheel blocks 14 may be readily seen by abrakeman by reason of being colored a bright orange or yellow.

An important feature is having the upper side 18 of the block 14concavely curved to a radius substantially equal to the radius of thewheel that it cooperates with. Ordinary wedge-shaped blocks with a flat,but inclined, upper surface do not provide as great a resistance to thewheel rolling upwardly thereof as may be achieved with a block, such asdisclosed herein, having an upper surface curved to a shapesubstantially complementary to the wheel.

While there has'been shown and described a particular embodiment of thisinvention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifications may be made therein without departing from theinvention and, therefore, it isv intended in the appended claims tocover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spiritand scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A wheel chock comprising, in combination, a pair of generallywedge-shaped blocks arranged in spaced, mirror image, relation to eachother with the tapered edges of the blocks facing each other and spacedsufficiently close to each other to serve as blocks for opposite sidesof a wheel, a frame member of resilient material secured to said pair ofblocks, the frame member having a shape that when unstressed operates tomaintain the blocks spaced from each other in position for operativerelation with a wheel but being flexible enough to permit furtherresilient separation of the blocks to accommodate ready insertion orremoval of the blocks on opposite sides of a wheel, the frame memberbeing of a formed bar shape that provides two spaced, parallel,elongated securement ears each connected at one end thereof to one ofthe blocks and merging at the other end with a hoop-like segment thatresiliently permits spreading of the securement ears, and the hoop-likesegment being generally circular and having an arcuate extent in therange of about 270, so that the diameter of the hoop-like segment isgreater than the spacing of the two securement ears.

2. A wheel chock as in claim 1 wherein the blocks are each formed with aflat lower side adapted to engage a support surface and a wheel-engagingsurface that is curved to a radius substantially identical to the radiusof a wheel that is to be chocked, the said two surfaces joining at thetapered edge of the block, the edge of each block opposite the taperededge being engaged by and secured to the frame member..

3. A wheel chock as in claim 2 wherein the frame member is of a formedbar shape arranged to lie substantially in a plane that is spacedbetween the plane of the flat lower sides of the blocks and a planethrough the uppermost outer portions of the blocks.

1. A wheel chock comprising, in combination, a pair of generallywedge-shaped blocks arranged in spaced, mirror image, relation to eachother with the tapered edges of the blocks facing each other and spacedsufficiently close to each other to serve as blocks for opposite sidesof a wheel, a frame member of resilient material secured to said pair ofblocks, the frame member having a shape that when unstressed operates tomaintain the blocks spaced from each other in posiTion for operativerelation with a wheel but being flexible enough to permit furtherresilient separation of the blocks to accommodate ready insertion orremoval of the blocks on opposite sides of a wheel, the frame memberbeing of a formed bar shape that provides two spaced, parallel,elongated securement ears each connected at one end thereof to one ofthe blocks and merging at the other end with a hoop-like segment thatresiliently permits spreading of the securement ears, and the hoop-likesegment being generally circular and having an arcuate extent in therange of about 270*, so that the diameter of the hoop-like segment isgreater than the spacing of the two securement ears.
 2. A wheel chock asin claim 1 wherein the blocks are each formed with a flat lower sideadapted to engage a support surface and a wheel-engaging surface that iscurved to a radius substantially identical to the radius of a wheel thatis to be chocked, the said two surfaces joining at the tapered edge ofthe block, the edge of each block opposite the tapered edge beingengaged by and secured to the frame member.
 3. A wheel chock as in claim2 wherein the frame member is of a formed bar shape arranged to liesubstantially in a plane that is spaced between the plane of the flatlower sides of the blocks and a plane through the uppermost outerportions of the blocks.